Winds Of Change
by XariGrey
Summary: New Orleans native Olivia Pope is thrown for a loop when she is forced to leave home at 6 years old, because of a situation beyond her control. Once relocated, she meets Fitzgerald Grant, and an unbreakable bond is formed. And their life journey begins.


**_So I know you're thinking, "You disgusting slacker, you haven't even updated your other story, and now you start a new one?" Yes, this is true, minus the disgusting slacker part lol, but this story has been in my heart for a very long time and it is very near and dear to my heart as it is basically my own life story. But I'm changing it around and fitting it into the world of Olitz. So this will be a younger Olitz and we will go on this "life journey" with them. So once again, I hope you enjoy!_**

* * *

_**Thursday August 25, 2005**_

_"I don't wanna be like Cinderella, sitting in a dark cold dusty cellar waiting for somebody, to come and set me free," _Olivia sung, as she danced around the room, getting dressed for school.

"Livvie, come and eat sweetheart," Olivia's mom, Lucille, called.

"Coming mommy," she said as she put her socks on and grabbed her shoes. She ran to the kitchen table, waiting for her mom to bring her plate. "Hey ma, you wanna hear me say my seven and eight times tables?"

"Yeah sweetie, go ahead," her mother said, as she placed Olivia's plate in front of her. Olivia quickly ran through the tables, as her mother listened intently.

"Good job Liv," Lucille said, extremely proud.

"Thanks mom. I'm the only person in the second grade who knows up to my eight times table," Olivia said proudly, as she continued to eat. At 6 years old, she was the youngest second-grader, as she skipped a grade. Olivia's mother was a teacher, and a lot of her brilliance was attributed to sitting in her mothers' classroom on the days that she did not have school.

"Olivia, move your elbows off the table when you eat, darling. I hope you're not eating like that at school, people are gonna think you have no home-training whatsoever."

"Yes mother," Olivia mumbled.

"Okay, I'm going to put on my shoes and grab my school bag. Make sure you've done everything. Rinse out your dishes, put your shoes on, and grab your backpack, and be waiting by the door, ready to go."

"Okay," Olivia said.

"Five minutes Liv," her mother yelled as she ran to her room.

"Okay Mom!" She yelled back. Olivia finished her breakfast and quickly placed her dishes in the sink, put her shoes on, and swung her bookbag on her back.

"Ma, I'm ready," Olivia yelled from the front door._ "I don't wanna be like Cinderella, sitting in dark, cold, dusty cellar, waiting for somebody, to come and set me free. I don't wanna be like someone waiting for my handsome prince to come and save me."_

"Come on Cheetah Girl," Olivia's mother laughed, as she passed Olivia her cheetah coat. "Let's get you to school."

* * *

As soon as Olivia got in the classroom, she ran to the cubbies to greet her friends, Abby, Quinn, and Mellie.

"Cheetahs!" she called out.

They group hugged. "Cheetahs," they all yelled.

"Ladies," Mrs. Devreaux called out, "Please stop yelling and take your seats."  
They all quickly scuttled to their seats, ready for the lesson of the day.

"Now can anyone tell me what we are learning today," Mrs. Devreaux asked.  
Mellie's hand quickly shot up.

"We're learning manners and proper etiquette."

"That is correct Mellie."

Abby, Mellie, Quinn, and Olivia, who all sat in the same group, put their hand together and whispered, "Cheetahs." Mrs. Devreaux couldn't help but chuckle at the close-knit group of friends.

"Okay kids so let's get started, I need two volunteers: one boy and one girl."  
Abby raised her hand immediately. "Okay Abby, I saw your hand first. Now I need a guy."

Seeing that Abby volunteered, David decided to volunteer, as he had the biggest crush on her.

"Alright Abby and David, I'm gonna need you both to use your imaginations. So, you are at a restaurant and the host asks, 'How many people are in your party, sir.' David, how would you politely respond?"

David pondered the question for a moment then spoke, "Well, I would say, 'There are two people in my party ma'am."

"Great job David," Mrs. Devreaux said. "Alright Abby, let's skip ahead. So you have already ordered your food and drinks. Now your salad just came out and you're about to eat. Identify which fork is the salad fork. Is it the shorter fork or the longer fork."

Abby immediately answered, "The shorter fork is the salad fork."

"Correct Ms. Whelan," the teacher said, giving both Abby and David a sticker.  
Class continued in that manner each student taking turns, and before they knew it, it was recess time.

Olivia, Abby, Mellie, Quinn, and David were all sitting in a group outside playing _The Concentration Game._They had just finished the first round when Mellie spoke up.

"I heard my mom talking this morning and I think there is a really bad storm coming this way."

David always the sarcastic one replied, "You mean a thunderstorm Mellie? We get those all the time."

"No dummy. An actual bad storm, like a hurricane," Mellie answered, giving him the evil eye.

"A _hurricane_!?" They all shrieked in disbelief.

"Yeah a hurricane, and supposedly, it's coming on Monday. My mom and my dad said we're going to Texas."

"Mellie, I think you may be overreacting, there's not gonna be any hurricane. You probably misunderstood the conversation. And even if you didn't, New Orleans gets hurricane threats. We'll be okay. Right guys?" Olivia said.

They all nodded their heads in agreement.

If Olivia was honest with herself, she was a little scared. Mellie's mom was one of the big-wig politicians in New Orleans, and always had inside information on everything. So if her mom was talking about evacuation, something must really be going. But she decided to kept that to herself, she didn't want to scare her friends, but most of all she didn't want to think about possibly leaving home.

"Maybe you guys are right, but I'm still concerned you guys," Mellie said.

"Stop your worrying Princess," David teased.

"Shut up David," Mellie said, plucking David.

"Ouch," David whined.

"That's what you get, shrimp," Mellie fired back.

Before David could respond, Mrs. Devreaux came up to the group of students. "All of you are needed in the front office, bring all of your belongings from your cubby with you as well." They all looked at each other with a confused look on their faces. They quickly went inside, gathered their things, and made their way to the front office, chattering all the while.

"Do you think we're in trouble," Quinn asked.

"No we didn't do anything. Well that we know of," Abby said.

"Or maybe we're gonna be paddled. I'm scared of paddles," David said, shivering.

"I don't know guys. Let's hope it's not paddling though," Olivia said.

They continued their walk toward the office in silence. When they got to the office, they were surprised to see Olivia's mom. "Mom! What are you doing here?"Olivia asked.

"I'm here to pick all of you up."

"But why?"

"Livvie, knows not the time for questions. Alright kids let's hurry up. Everyone in the van." They all walked outside to the van and got inside, not entirely sure of what was happening.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, they all arrived at Olivia's house to find all of their parent's cars outside. Olivia's mom and the group of kids walked inside to find suitcases everywhere, and their parents, minus Mellie's dad, Bradley, seated in the living room. Each child made their way to their parents, confused and worried looks gracing their features.

Everyone sat in silence, as they listened to Mellie's mom, Victoria, talk on the phone. A few minutes later she hung up the phone and addressed everyone in the room.

"Okay everyone. So, there are five apartments already prepared for us in Dallas, and we should be ready to go as soon as Brad returns with the winnebago, and the tow truck will be here to take our cars within the next half hour," Victoria informed them all.

Olivia was totally confused. She began thinking, _'Was there some type of road trip that their parents decided to keep a secret? But Ms. Rosemont said there were five apartments ready in Dallas. Apartments...Oh my gosh. Does this mean we're moving. Was Mellie right? Were they leaving because of a hurricane? What was happening?'_

Olivia turned to her mom. "Mom, what's happening? Why are we leaving?" Olivia's mom didn't answer, instead she unmuted the tv and pointed to the screen.

They all listened as TV anchor, Sally-Ann Roberts, uttered the words that would forever change their lives.

_"Breaking news! We have reports of an extreme weather system, making its way to New Orleans. It is expected to make landfall Monday morning. At this moment that system, which we are calling Hurricane Katrina, is a category 2 storm. While evacuation is not mandatory at this time, we advise everyone to evacuate as soon as possible."_  
Olivia kept replaying it over and over again in her head._ "Hurricane Katrina. Category 2. Evacuate." _She couldn't but get the feeling that life as she knew it….was over.

* * *

**_Boom! Yep that's it for this chapter you guys. So this story just kinda popped into my head one day when I was thinking about my life and about Scandal. Lol yeah. So basically I was in second grade when Hurricane Katrina hit and oddly enough I can still remember each and every detail, vividly. Many elements of this story will be embellished with my own experiences, such as moving to Dallas, skipping a grade, my mom being a teacher and leaving school in the middle of the day to find out, that life as I knew it was pretty much over. Unfortunately my friends didn't evacuate to the same place as me, as in this story. However, the Cheetah Girl obsession is extremely, extremely accurate! lol haha. But I hope you all have enjoyed this so far. And I promise I will be updating frequently. For those of you who read Political Music, it will be up very soon. It's becoming more elaborate than originally thought so yeah. But I feel as though the final project will be amazing. Anyways, till next time. _**

**_Au Revoir,  
Xari_**

**_P.S. Go hug someone you love. Anything can happen. #DeepInMyFeelsAtTheMoment #LifeIsUnpredictable #DoNotTakeItForGranted #Peace_**


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